Coming off a standout collegiate debut season, Rutgers pitcher Christian Coppola continues to make headlines. On Thursday, he was included on the 31 player roster for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. The all-star squad will play a five game series against both Chinese Taipei and Japan over the next weeks.
Coppola becomes just the third Rutgers player in program history to be selected for the Collegiate National Team. He joins two of the most successful Scarlet Knights ever in Bobby Brownlie and Todd Frazier. They were selected in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
In addition, Coppola was the only Big Ten player selected this year for the team.
“We are all excited for Christian, who stepped up and performed very well against elite competition at the Collegiate National Team training camp,” head coach Steve Owens said. “I’m sure he will enjoy the next two weeks competing with Chinese Taipei and Japan. His coaches and teammates along with our Rutgers baseball fans are rooting him on!”
On Tuesday night, Coppola excelled in his one appearance at training camp. He threw three innings of one hit ball along with four strikeouts and no walks. The Galloway, New Jersey native was filthy at times with his breaking ball and had total command on the mound. He combined with five other pitchers for a shutout as the Stars defeated the Stripes 16-0.
This past season, Coppola became the first freshman in Rutgers history to be named All-Big Ten First Team. He led all Big Ten starting pitchers with a 3.68 ERA while finishing with a 5-5 record along with a 1.33 WHIP, 71 strikeouts and 37 walks in 66.0 innings. Opponents had just a .240 batting average against Coppola.
USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team will face Chinese Taipei and Japan from June 30-July 12. The annual series’ will take place for the 20th year against Chinese Taipei and 44th time against Japan.
I’ll cover Coppola’s outings during these next two weeks so stay tuned. For a complete schedule, click here.
In case you missed it, below is Coppola shining on the mound on Tuesday night.
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